About The Blog

Blogging Disney is an unofficial site featuring news, reviews, and retrospectives of everything Disney. Blogging Disney is researched and written by a lifelong Disney fan and is in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or any of its affiliates or subsidiaries. This blog is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not reflect the opinions or views of the Walt Disney Company.

Valerie Champagne,
contributing writer and photographer

Samantha McElhaney,
contributing photographer

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Archive for the “Theme Parks” Category

With cooler weather, smaller crowds and cheaper accommodations, fall is the best time of the year to visit Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The back-to-school season is also Disney’s favorite time of the year to promote major discounts on its Magic Your Way vacation packages.

For families planning to stay 3-14 days at a Disney-owned resort, Magic Your Way With FREE Dining is one of Disney’s most popular and cost-effective discounts. The deal is available to guests arriving most nights* between September 30th and December 20th, 2012, with the purchase of a full-price Magic Your Way vacation package.

This year, I indulged in the Christmas spirit by visiting Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights neighborhood which is famous for its extravagant Christmas light displays. Every December, Dyker Heights homeowners bedeck their luxurious manses in outrageous and elaborate displays that include thousands of lights, oversized nutcrackers, spinning carousels, and animatronic Santa Clauses. Some of the homes are elegantly decorated and others are garishly overdone with front yards overflowing with lighted reindeer, plastic candy canes, and inflatable snowmen – too many to count.

Walt Disney World recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, and every Disney milestone deserves a Disney quiz! Test your Walt Disney World knowledge with this 15 question quiz based on the attractions of Disney World’s four major theme parks: The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and the Animal Kingdom.

The four theme parks of Walt Disney World, photographs by Valerie Champagne

This quiz is challenging! How well do you know your Walt Disney World history?

In 2009, I visited the New Orleans Museum of Art during a wonderful special exhibit: Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio. The exhibit was timed to coincide with the theatrical release of Disney’s 49th animated feature, The Princess and the Frog (2009), which is set in 1920s New Orleans.

The exhibit featured concept art, designs, and animation cels from Disney’s The Three Little Pigs (1933), Snow White and the Seventh Dwarfs (1937), The Ugly Duckling (1939), Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and The Princess and the Frog (2009). I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit, and I credit it as my first introduction to the wonderfully talented art director, color stylist, and designer Mary Blair.

When Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl sailed into theaters in 2003, no one expected the film to break records or launch one of the most successful film franchises of all time with three sequels and a fifth film scheduled for a 2013 release. Based on a 36 year old dark ride with a catchy theme song and starring the then-indie Johnny Depp who hadn’t yet proven himself as an A-list leading man, the movie seemed like a long shot, especially after the failure of Disney’s previous ride-based films.

And now, more than $3.7 billion dollars later, Pirates of the Caribbean stands as a testament to the potential blockbuster hidden inside the plastic veneer of every Disney theme park attraction. Walt Disney Pictures is well-aware of this potential and the company has a long history of ride-inspired feature films with even more on the way. From the made-for-TV Tower of Terror to 2013’s Magic Kingdom and Jungle Cruise, here’s a list of all of the Disney films inspired by theme park attractions.